What I Sold: Carmanah Technologies (CMHXF, CMH.TO)
On Monday, I told readers that I was getting out of companies some which I feel are likely to need to raise new money over the next couple years. I also provided a list of stocks I will be buying when I judge we're near the bottom. This is the first in a series of short articles about those stocks. Carmanah Technologies (CMHXF) I've mentioned Carmanah Technologies (CMHXF) in passing in articles about LED companies. I first became interested in Carmanah in 2005. The company's integrated LED-solar lighting solutions caught my attention because they were (and are) economic regardless...
A Guide to Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP) Investing, Part I
Chris Williams
According to the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), in 2010 solar was the fastest growing industry in the US, growing at 67%. The geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry still grew quickly compared to the whole economy, but it only grew at a modest 32% compared to solar.
According to Solar Buzz, at the end of 2009, the global solar market was $38.5 billion with the US installing nearly 8% solar, or $3.1 billion of the world market.
Source: Solarbuzz 2010 Marketbuzz
According to PMGO, an industry research firm,
“The total market for U.S. GHPs in 2009 is estimated to be about $3.7...
You Call This Cleantech?
David Gold Invest in a solar, biofuels, or LED lighting company, and nobody will question the company’s cleantech pedigree. Invest in a manufacturer of network switch upgrades for telephone companies, then call it “cleantech” and you’ll see a lot of raised eyebrows. I know, because we did just that. We are investors in Aztek Networks, a company that makes replacements for the TDM switches that handle much of the phone traffic from standard landline phones. Telecom companies are excited about Aztek’s product because it enables them, for the first time, to incrementally switch out their old...
Stock Picks with a Whole Systems Approach
Tom Konrad CFA Picking the best energy services stocks. Fossil fuels are getting more expensive, but so are the industrial metals and other commodities used in the wind and solar farms with which we hope to replace them. Meanwhile, government and personal budgets everywhere are under strain. These economic imperatives make energy efficiency the one clean energy sector that may benefit despite rising denial about the existence of climate change among the US political elite and continued economic weakness. Energy efficiency represents the sort of true win-win-win in that it saves money, reduces the use...
FLIR: Another Dividend-Paying Energy Efficiency Stock
Tom Konrad CFA FLIR Systems' (FLIR) IR cameras save energy not just by spotting leaks, but by spotting intruders in the dark. When I published my list of dividend paying energy efficiency stocks in January, I missed one, and it is a long-time favorite. FLIR Systems (FLIR) business is focused around thermography, and I picked FLIR as a stock likely to benefit from the stimulus in March 2009 because FLIR's cameras are used by energy raters. FLIR did benefit from the stimulus, rising 56% by the end of 2009 from the $21 price when I...
Smart Grid Stocks For The Obama Stimulus Package
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a new Obama administration would renew with Keynesianism (i.e. large-scale counter-cyclical infrastructure spending) but with a green twist to: (a) get the US economy out of its funk and (b) propel America into the 21st Century by providing a massive push for its green industries. I discussed certain rail stocks and electric grid stocks that could benefit as a result. By-and-large, I've been right on both counts about the President-elect's strategy (i.e. Keynesian and green), but I did forget to mention an important part of the plan's focus:...
The Basics of Residential Clean Energy For Realtors and Homeowners
Note: The following is a handout written by AltEnergyStocks Editor Tom Konrad at the request of a leading local Realtor where he lives in Ulster County, NY. It is intended as a handout that local Realtors can give to new homeowners who express an interest in reducing their home energy use and using renewable energy. Some of the information and may not be applicable if you live in other areas because of varying climate, energy costs, and regulation. While most of the locally specific has been removed from this version, and the remainer is broadly applicable, homeowners in other...
How Infrared Imaging can Sell Energy Efficiency
Energy Efficiency breaks the laws of economics. Despite the fact that it's considerably cheaper then traditional energy sources, as well as providing substantial benefits in terms of comfort, economic growth, safety, and the environment, barriers arising from misplaced incentives and the attitudes, awareness, perceptions, and general level of knowledge all conspire to prevent people from taking steps which would otherwise be extremely rewarding. The key to better implementation of Energy Efficiency programs are programs to raise people's interest or awareness. For instance, there is the example of how Woodstock Hydro found that their customers' electricity usage dropped 15%...
Ten Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap: These Almost Made It
In the future, I plan to avoid doing lists of ten stocks. I've found the writing to be somewhat repetitious, and I suspect some readers feel the same way. Look for more threes and fives. That said, there are more than enough solid companies with strong clean energy arms. These companies are my favorite investments right now, both because I think that now is a time to play it very safe in the stock market (I'm also increasing my cash reserve), and because these companies allow me to use Cash Covered Puts. Since I do have several...
The Challenge of Scaling Up Building Energy Retrofits
It’s almost always easier and cheaper to build an energy-efficient building in the first place than retrofitting existing structures. But humanity doesn’t always have that luxury.
by Tom Konrad, PhD., CFA
The sheer number of older, inefficient buildings means retrofits must be a critical part of decarbonizing the world’s building stock.
There’s a pressing need, then, to develop new techniques for performing large numbers of energy-efficiency retrofits quickly and cost-effectively. The average age of a U.S. home is nearly 40 years, while nearly 40 percent of homes in the U.K. were built before World War II.
Most building energy retrofits are one-off affairs...
Book Review: Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World (Geothermal + Efficiency)
Charles Morand Last Thursday, I reviewed two chapters from the recently published book "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World"*. This post reviews two more. Geothermal Energy Alexander Richter, Glitnir Bank (now Íslandsbanki) Geothermal is one of the most interesting forms of clean power generation there is. As noted by the author, the most convincing argument for geothermal electricity is the fact that it operates at capacity factors in the upper 90s. This makes it the only renewable technology suitable for baseload power with the exception of dam-based (i.e. large-scale) hydro. However, as...
Is There Life After the Bulb?
When incandescent light bulbs are phased out in the United States between 2012 to 2014, managers of utility Demand Side Management (DSM) programs will be between a rock and a hard place. At the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project's 5th annual Energy Efficiency Workshop, this fact seemed to be the elephant in the room that most of the utility executives in attendance did not want to talk about. One Trick Pony It's not for nothing that the compact fluorescent bulb, or CFL, has become the international symbol of energy efficiency. While it is true that we're not going to stop...
The LED Gold Rush
Tom Konrad CFA Last week, a prominent display of $10 LED light bulbs from Cree, Inc. (NASD:CREE) arrested my attention as I entered a home improvement store. These were officially launched in March, and are similar to a 40 watt-equivalent bulb I bought in 2009. I still have that bulb, which I use for outdoor lighting, because Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) take too long to warm up in the winter. It’s still going strong. The only problem: it cost $50, and used as much energy as a CFL for the same amount of light. Four years later, we have...
The Pros Pick Three Green IT Stocks For 2014
Tom Konrad CFA Green 2014 image via BigStock Being green is not all about wind turbines and solar panels. In fact, it’s usually greener to be smarter about using what we have than to replace it with something new, no matter how green. My panel of professional green money managers understands this. When I asked them each for their top three green stock picks for 2014, there were as many picks focused on smarter resource use as there were solar stocks. I recently gave...
The Muscle Car Of Energy Efficiency
Tom Konrad CFA Disclosure: I am long TSX:PRI / PENGF. The poster child of energy efficiency has long been changing a light bulb. First, it was swapping out an incandescent for a compact fluorescent, now the swap is to an LED. Changing a light bulb is a small step that anyone can take, and it’s so cost effective that it can pay for itself in months if the bulb is used frequently. This is a good example of household energy efficiency measures: a small action requiring a limited investment that anyone can take that pays back quickly....
List of Energy Efficiency Stocks
Energy efficiency stocks are publicly traded companies using a wide range of technologies to deliver the same energy services using less energy in the built environment. This includes efficient lighting such as LED lighting stocks, insulation, efficient motors, efficient appliances and appliance replacement services, sensor and control technologies, the internet of things, efficient power conversion and generation, and energy efficient design, construction, and retrofits.
See the list of efficient vehicle stocks and alternative transportation stocks for companies reducing energy used in transportation.
This list was last updated on 7/20/2022.
Acuity Brands(NYSE:AYI)
AIXTRON SE (AIXA.DE)
Ameresco, Inc. (AMRC)
Appliance Recycling Centers of American (ARCI)
Aspen Aerogels, Inc....
